I finally finished Revelation and I enjoyed it quite a bit more than I expected to, considering how badly some people hated it. Not the best book in the series, but not the worst, either, IMHO.

**** Revelation SPOILERS*****

The Meh:

The whole first half of the book was sloooooooow. I'd read two pages and fall asleep. I really don't have much bad to say - the only part that cheesed me off was Jacen's realization that Mara had not been his sacrifice after all, that it was his loss of Allana. I know this is coming from the POV of a deranged person, but Mara died so he could become a Sith, so I'm thinking he needs to be the biggest, baddest Sith there ever was. But if she wasn't his sacrifice or they do something stupid like cop-out and redeem his ass, Mara's death will have been truly, utterly, and completely meaningless. *shakes head*

Tahiri as a Sith. Seriously? She used to be a pretty cool character. I actually liked her in Dark Nest. Oh well. Maybe it'll be better than her wringing her hands and pining after Anakin.

Mandos, mandos, mandos everywhere. Can we be done with the guys in Tupperware now, plz thx? I actually didn't mind that Jaina went to train with them and I was happy to see her doing something besides hanging out with her boy toys, LOL. I thought it was cool that Jaina and Mirta became friends, but I've always liked Mirta. Jaina's gonna need some new friends after her brother gets finished will all her childhood girl friends.

Sintas and philosophy and morality and ethics and rape and premeditated murder and OMGhowmanyoftheseissuescanbecrammedinonebook? I like that Karen Traviss touches on tough subjects and takes us places that are uncomfortable to think about, but it was spread pretty heavy in this book and felt a little preachy at times.

Mara's Force ghost. Nice thought, but it didn't affect me like I thought it would. More than her appearance or expressions of sentiment, I did like that she led Ben to find solid forensic evidence to help nail Jacen. She's a smart woman and she knew that simply showing up and telling him that 'Jacen killed me' wouldn't hold in a court of law. Ben's reaction of "You did it, Mom," was one of my favorite scenes.

The Good:

Four words: Ben, Niathal, Pellaeon, Daala. As far as I'm concerned, those four PWNED this book and I loved every minute of it.

Ben has come a looooong way since the beginning of this series. He's grown from a petulant pre-teen to a maturing young man and Luke and Mara have every right to be immeasurably proud of him. To quote Luke, he's so "decent," and that's hard to come by nowadays. Ben and Luke's growing/repairing relationship was portrayed beautifully. (Any of my Legacy fan friends catch his thought that he didn't want anyone to die for him again? Now we know who Cade is channeling. )

Niathal was fantastic. Honestly, I hadn't paid much attention to her character so far, but I liked everything about her in this book. She tried to do the right thing and owned her actions, for better or worse. And she had me cracking up with comments like, "Not in MY navy!"

Pellaeon was Pellaeon in all his awesomeness - like was mentioned, the last of the true Imperial gentleman. It was sad, but I thought his death scene was wonderfully written and a very fitting tribute to his character. And those final taps with the comlink...I got chills!

Which brings me to the surprise of the book for me - Daala. I don't know much about her character, so I have no idea if Karen's characterization fit prior portrayals, but I loved her! I geeked out - seriously GEEKED OUT - when Daala showed up with her fleet and aligned with the GA against Jacen. (Or, to quote one of the TFN Lit mods: "Defeated Jacen with the Essential Guide to Vehicles and Weapons." LOLOL!!) i.e. this is how the big boys and girls play, kid. You gonna take on the

Why does Jacen keep coming so close to getting killed... You know people with the great opportunity and then nope... The just wound the sorry sucker.

Do they want him to be so Vader-esque that they are going to hack off pieces of him so he can become "more maching that man"... I know they haven't really done that much but...

And why do they keep having these 60 or so year old characters run around the galaxy like they are in their 20's? Does that annoy anyone else? I mean... They need to slow down a bit?

And poor Han and Leia. They didn't get to enjoy their own kids growing up... Now they have a grandkid so do they get to enjoy that? Not yet... That kids already been kidnapped. I think it's a requirement for a Star Wars kid. You know, must be kidnapped and placed in peril in every book???

Seriously? What are they thinking?

I agree with you about Mara's death. Oh, it's not the sacrifice after all??? Then why the frak is she dead? Purpose? Please?

Oh yeah... She's a chick in Star Wars.

Tupperwear Mando's... now there's a gag costume to do for Dragon Con. No pun towards the GAG intended.... But you see cardboard box troopers... And last year somebody did Chew"box"a...

John Jackson Miller has a brand new short story up on Hyperspace: [link=http://www.starwars.com/hyperspace/tease.html?tPage=/hyperspace/member/fiction/f20080409/index.html]Labor Pains[/link] and there?s a thread about it in Lit [link=http://boards.theforce.net/literature/b10003/28297369/p1/?69]here.[/link]

Go read it, I say! The story, I mean. But not at work unless you have an office with a door. Otherwise, your co-workers will look at you funny when you?re laughing at your computer screen. Don?t ask me how I know this?

The preview for [link=http://www.darkhorse.com/profile/preview.php?theid=14-914&p=0]KOTOR 26/Vector 3[/link] is up, wherein we discern that Lucien is a Loser who needs to take a vacation in a Sarlacc pit.

And the [link=http://www.darkhorse.com/profile/preview.php?theid=14-884&p=0]Legacy 23 preview[/link] is up. Sing it with me: I?m about to whip somebody?s ass! O-o-oh, I?m about to whip somebody?s ass!

Go read it, I say! The story, I mean. But not at work unless you have an office with a door. Otherwise, your co-workers will look at you funny when you?re laughing at your computer screen. Don?t ask me how I know this?

QFT. Yeah, I don't know anything about reading it at work either.

Celeste doesn't seem to be buying the company line about Zayne. The boy does seem to have that effect on people. You can't help but like him.

No war can last forever. Now, in the long and punishing battle between the defiant champions of the New Jedi Order and the juggernaut that is the Galactic Alliance, the endgame is finally at hand.

The rebel cause is losing ground under the twin blows of Admiral Gilad Pellaeon?s assassination and the death of Mara Jade Skywalker. At the same time, the Galactic Alliance, with the extraordinary power and dark brilliance of newly ascendant Sith Lord Darth Caedus at its helm, may be unstoppable. Tormented and torn between the call of duty and the thirst for vengeance, Luke has searched the Force and beheld an unspeakable vision of the galaxy enslaved under tyranny more monstrous than even Palpatine?s. Now it seems that the last, best hope lies in mobilizing the scattered Jedi for one decisive search-and-destroy mission. The objective: eliminate Darth Caedus.

It?s a plan that will be as difficult and dangerous to execute as it is daring. For Caedus is a scion of both the Skywalker and Solo bloodlines whose command of the Force surpasses even that of his grandfather Darth Vader. There is only one who is bound by destiny to stand against him in what will surely be a duel to the death, only one with an outside chance of bringing down the dark lord who was once Jacen Solo.

The furious final moments between power and peace are here, and whoever confronts Darth Caedus will decide the outcome?and the fate of those left standing.

Is that the official summary? Dude - I can't get past the bad grammar!

For Caedus is a scion of both the Skywalker and Solo bloodlines whose command of the Force surpasses even that of his grandfather Darth Vader.

For Caedus is a scion of both the Skywalker and Solo bloodlines whose command of the Force surpasses even that of his grandfather Darth Vader. There is only one who is bound by destiny to stand against him in what will surely be a duel to the death, only one with an outside chance of bringing down the dark lord who was once Jacen Solo.

Zekk is missing, and is presumed dead when they only find the wreckage of his Stealth X

The Moffs released some sort of nanovirus on Mandalore specific to the Fett genome, cuz they were mad about Mandalore's involvement in the Battle of Nickel One. Boba Fett and Mirta Gev are now essentially not allowed to set foot on Mandalore or the virus will kill them

Daala is the new Chief of State

Allana was presumed dead after an assassination attempt, but after Jacen's death, Allana (now going under the name Ameilia) is being raised as a ward of Han and Leia's while she is training at the Jedi Academy

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Tahiri:

After Caedus dies, Ben tracks her down and has a lightsaber duel with her. Instead of killing her, he lets her live. However, one of Tenel Ka's security ops interrupts and takes Tahiri into custody for interrgation purposes.

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Jaina vs Jacen:

Jaina confronts Jacen, and he tells her that he is trying to save Tenel Ka and Allana from a nanovirus targeted to kill those of Hapan royal blood. Jaina doesn't beilieve him, and they get into a lightsaber fight. Jacen's last act before Jaina killed him was of him screaming at Tenel Ka through the Force, warning her that there was danger and to take Allana away.

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Tenel Ka and Allana really were in danger. What had happened was that Caedus captured Isolder, and the nanovirus that targets Hapans of royal blood was engineered from Isolder's DNA (similarly, Mirta Gev was also taken captive, and the aforementioned Fett virus was engineered from her DNA). However, the Moffs went ahead and used the Hapan nanovirus behind Caedus's back, and he had just found out this fact when Jaina confronted him.

After Jaina kills Jacen, she takes his body back to the Jedi base, with Jag running to meet her. She's pretty upset at this point, and she wonders if she made the right decision to kill Jacen. Doubts crept in, like "Why didn't I believe that Tenel Ka and Allana are in danger? I should have felt it through the twin bond", etc. The POV makes it clear that she wasn't stupid enough to try and redeem him, because he was too far gone, but that she should have let him explain himself.